5 Reasons Why Starting a Blog Will Change Your Life Financially

Today, I want to talk about five reasons why blogging will inspire you to change your life financially.

For the longest time, it never crossed my mind to start a blog. In the past few years, I was actually a reader of many personal finance and DIY blogs. All of this helped me become better with my money.

It wasn’t until I discovered Eden, from Mint Notion, that inspired me to start my own blog. In fact, even then, I still had doubts about starting a blog.

Hm… what kind of doubts?

Well, for one, who am I to start a blog? Why would anyone want to read my blog?

Secondly, let’s be honest… I’m not the best writer, or even good, for that matter. To make you feel better, I embarrassingly admit that I failed English in grade 12. That’s what you get for partying too much!

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Aside from writing emails at work and texting my friends, I don’t write at all. Period.

Thirdly, what should I even blog about? What is there to write about?

And lastly, building a blog from scratch seems so hard and technical. I mean, where do I even start? I’m definitely better at finance and managing my money than I am with that “techy” stuff. I don’t even know how to operate a fax machine, let alone a blog (no jokes). This is where I cry, “Oh Lord, please help me!”

Due to the above reasons, I was 100% certain that I was NEVER going to start a blog!

Besides the fax machine point, can you relate to me?

Well, my friend, I want to tell you that I managed to remove all those self-limiting thoughts and started this blog! You can too!

Since starting this blog, my financial situation improved substantially. Regardless of who you are or the situation you’re in, starting a blog can really improve your financial health. Not to mention, your mental health as well. I want to mention that making money from your blog is NOT a point I discuss here.

Now that I’ve made my point clear, let’s talk about how starting a blog can benefit you financially.

1) Tracking Your Financial Journey Keeps You Financially Fit

Photo by CATHY PHAM on Unsplash

If you’ve been following me, you will notice that my fiance and I track our net worth every month.(If you’re curious, our most updated net worth is $756,000, but I didn’t have the chance to post this yet).

Have you ever felt more obligated and motivated to do something when you announce it to your friends and/or family?

Well, it’s the same when you blog about it.

This holds you accountable when you share your financial journey to the world.

If we see that our net worth is falling or not gaining any momentum – not due to market corrections or any emergencies – then there must be something wrong with our spending habits.

Even if you’re in major debt, starting a blog can really be life-changing when you record your debt-free journey. The debt-free guys, David and John, are great examples of this.

This is very inspiring to your readers and other fellow bloggers who are in your situation. It’s an incredible feeling knowing you can help and encourage others while achieving your own financial goals.

2) Blogging & Tracking Your Sales Record Brings in Extra Cash

Before I registered my blog, I wasn’t sure which niche to go for — DIY/Decor or Finance? I was in a serious dilemma. #indecisivepanda!!

Initially, when I was leaning toward the DIY/Decor niche, I wanted to track how many furniture items I could refurbish and sell per month. With that said, I was going to register one of these names: diypandachic.com or savvydecorpanda.com

So, what niche and name did I end up going for? Hm… I’m not sure. That’s kinda hard to figure out. Do you know?

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Answer:finsavvypanda.com

Anyway, I was writing blog posts to myself (pretending to go live) for the first few months while documenting my DIY projects. I wrote about where I got free and/or low-priced furniture in addition to the costs of supplies. I was tracking my expenses as well.

I also tracked how many items I made and sold each week. Mind you, it wasn’t a lot because I still have my day job at the bank. Still, this kept me busy from shopping or going to HomeSense to look for fake deals. In other words, it stopped me from wasting money on things I didn’t need.

Not only did I earn money ($250 to $500 per month), but I also learned a lot from this experience! To put things into perspective, I’m not a handy panda at all. But it was fun documenting my learning progress. That’s why diyhandypanda.com wasn’t one of my choices, hah!

If you’re curious, I did log my DIY and sales records during the summer/fall months of 2017. But I deleted them when I decided to go live with this blog in November 2017 as I didn’t see fit with the niche I decided to go for.

I still, however, have two posts that relate to my DIY furniture experience:

3) Spending Your Time Blogging & Learning is Wallet Friendly

As mentioned above, starting a blog can help improve your financial situation because it shifts focus away from activities that cause you to spend money. That includes mindless shopping and going out for drinks with your coworkers after work.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t go out and spend. You should! But starting a blog helps reduce the unnecessary spending.

For example, I was preoccupied with finishing a DIY project that I was passionate about so that I could blog about it (to myself). That shifted my attention towards rewarding activities and away from those that were bad for my wallet.

Here’s another example. About two weeks ago, my team asked me to grab some drinks with them. I kindly declined because I had to go home to draft up my next blog post about helping you become a millionaire! As a result, I saved about $30.

I want to say that whatever niche you choose, you will learn a lot in that area! So, choose something you’re passionate about and can talk about forever and ever and ever, without ever shutting up! More often than not, this will make you choose your blog over a round of drinks with your coworkers and/or friends. 😉

4) Blogging Can Help You Develop a Higher Tolerance at Work

Long story short, I wasn’t made for the corporate world. But like most people, I don’t have a choice for now (or, maybe that’s just an excuse). *Shrugs*

In most cases, I’m probably like you — cannot stand the cocky, rude, selfish, stingy, cheap, inconsiderate, stupid, or [whatever word you wanna insert here] type of people at the office.

As an INFJ, I am extremely sensitive, especially when I cannot tolerate the above behaviors. Well, I can tolerate stupid (somewhat), but not the rest!

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With all that said, my fiance used to think I was crazy because I was ALWAYS (still am) trying to think of ways to make money work for us so that I could GTFO and stay away from corporate politics!

According to this personality test, I won’t have a very good corporate career path. Boy, were they right about that one! Apparently, the results tell me that I should become a “counselor, psychologist, doctor, life coach, or spiritual guide.” *Shrugs*

So, what does this have to do with improving your money situation?

Well, I personally didn’t realize until my fiance said this to me:

“Bunny, I’m so happy to see that you’re less nutty (and more stable) compared to before. Ever since you started your blog, you’ve been much happier. That’s good that you can still stay in the corporate world for a bit longer.”

I admit that I do experience a blogger burnout from time to time, but it’s helping me cope with corporate work. That means I can tolerate it and stay for now and not lose out on my income. Most importantly, I won’t become mentally ill and end up in an asylum!

Can you relate?

So, my point is, I can now tolerate cocky, rude, selfish, stingy, cheap, and inconsiderate people. Why? Because I’m too focused writing my next blog post (and not the people at work). Ah, there’s a Bitmoji for that…

“I really enjoyed doing it on the side of work because when you’re sick of work, you can focus on your blog, and when you’re burnt out from your blog you can focus on work. I think the secret to people sticking with their work is to have a fun hobby on the side that might generate some income.”

5) Other Bloggers Will Inspire & Motivate You

Once you start your blog, be sure to connect with like-minded people. They really help you build steam and momentum that keeps you going, and going, and going. Remember that 90’s energizer bunny??

Their words would have likely saved me, and a bunch of other readers like you, in a ton of interest payments. Not to mention, it also makes me rethink how much leverage I should take when I’m borrowing to invest.

With that said, connecting with other like-minded bloggers can help you improve your finances, whether or not you’re considered an expert in that same subject. Again, learning is an ongoing journey!

Summary

Well, there you have it — five reasons why blogging can benefit you financially. And again, making money from your blog didn’t make it to this list. Yes, there are numerous blog posts that talk about how to monetize your blog. But I want you to see it from a different perspective.

“I really enjoyed doing it on the side of work because when you’re sick of work, you can focus on your blog, and when you’re burnt out from your blog you can focus on work. I think the secret to people sticking with their work is to have a fun hobby on the side that might generate some income.”

5) Connect you with other like-minded people. These are bloggers who can motivate and help you stick to your plans. Not to mention, once you publish your goal(s), you will be held accountable. More likely than not, you will take action and do it (e.g. my goal is to save $1,000 by the end of this month, my goal is to pay off $20,000 debt in X month, etc.).

Did you enjoy this post? If so, don’t forget to share it on Pinterest! 🙂

Over to you

So, have I convinced you that starting a blog can benefit you financially? Do you want to start the blog of your dreams? If yes, here is my easy step-by-step guide on how to start your best blog ever in 2018! 🙂

41 Comments

5 – very oh so true and awesomely explained reasons why starting a blog is financially healthy for you!

I’m especially grateful for virtually surrounding myself with a like-minded group of individuals that inspire me everyday! People – real people – that I look forward to “seeing” every day! And the group of people you have listed who are inspiring us to make better financial decisions!

I too have gone back to Mr. DS’s post and re-read the momentum one once in awhile…sometimes you just have to create a small win in the week somewhere to start that push and get the momentum rolling!

And back to 4. help tolerating day job…before blogging, yes, I would be so offended and dwell on snarky comments made by others. Did you know I got called a little girl again at work the other day? Different person than last time, but, I’m like, “WTF did she just say? Oh no she did not just go there!” I cooled down pretty quickly as I thought, you know, she’s probably jealous as she’s 20 yrs older than me, and I’m going to retire 20 yrs before she does. I’m gonna go home and make some pins now…~ insert virtual fingersnap and walk away.

I love that momentum post. It’s very encouraging and motivating to read!

haha what about you give her your real finger snap in person instead of a virtual one?? I wonder how she would react? LOL jk!!

Of course, you won’t do that… manners, right? 😐

You’re probably right on that one — she must be lacking fulfillment and she’s taking it on you. I find that some women in the office can get really nasty… You should advertise your blog to her as your friend’s blog. Perhaps she’ll learn a thing or two from it 😀

Thank you so much for the mention Ms. Panda! I feel special I get quoted TWICE in one post lol!

Beautiful pin, by the way, you are rocking this pinning stuff, how did you even make that graphic!

Blogging has been a great gift, it’s very nice to be able to express yourself and have blogging friends!! I am an ISFJ, me and you are very similar. We would probably be quite good friends “IRL” (I am trying to use millennial lingo) since we are similar. What is your fiancee’s Myer’s Briggs?

PS Ms. DS I can’t believe someone called you a little girl again!!! I would be so upset. Good for you for taking the high road!! Women can be so nasty to each other!

thanks for your kind words! I actually used Canva’s template and changed it around. It was originally an info-graphic template for make up haha!

We are only one letter difference. So, I guess we both lean more toward the “feeling” and “judgement” side lol… I find those are my most dominating — even more dominating than my “introversion.” And yes, we would probably make good friends IRL. Gotta learn all these lingos!

My fiance is an ISFP — so he’s more different than me. Apparently, he’s an “adventurer/artist” but it’s so odd because I just see him as a numbers and facts guy hahaha… though he does have the “live in the moment” trait, so that’s probably where the adventurer kicks in.

P.S. Based on my personal experience, I agree some women can be REALLY nasty (understatement here). But both you and Mrs. DS are awesome!

Hi Ms. Panda, Thanks for the mention and link. Glad to be part of your universe and inspire at the same time.

Curious on how the Bluehost affiliate program is going? I set mine up a little differently (blogging resources page rather than how to start a blog). I have found it to be one of the least trafficked pages on my site.

All 5 points are sooo true. I have been coasting this year and haven’t accomplished any goals for my blog but now I am back from holidays I will try to get more motivated and grow my traffic. Reading post like this always helps.

I think we usually tend to focus on things that we haven’t accomplished yet and view it as we haven’t accomplished anything. In other words, we neglect our small achievements. From what I see, your blog is doing great!

Regardless how small (i.e. one post per week), those are still baby goals that lead you somewhere!

Like you, I need to stay motivated to grow my traffic too! If it makes you feel better, my traffic dropped significantly by 80% from last month. I think Pinterest is lowering my rank because I am supposedly on some lower quality group boards. But can’t get out because I feel bad/rude for leaving boards that owners were nice enough to invite me into 🙁

I failed 11th grade English… I didn’t do the work. It was these stupid note cards for a research paper that I didn’t want to do, and you weren’t allowed to turn in anything if you tried to skip a a step. So I didn’t do it and ended up with a grade somewhere in the single digits. Took it in summer school where there was no research paper and got an A.

You must have really disliked that class for you to remember this. That’s like me too… I hated my grade 12 class so much that it’s so vivid in my memory. I remember specifically I was going crazy and crying over it that day!

My grandfather and dad even called me useless and said I was going to become a homeless beggar on the streets. Asian parents… lol 🙁

When I got the hang of developing a daily routine with my blog, I started to realize how more financially conscience I got by reading a lot more PF blog content. It has helped me be aware to how improve my finances even more. It also helps to have a great PF community that wants to help each other out. About being more tolerant at work, by having a some free time at work to creating more content on my blog and read other blogs I found that don’t get into some of the gossip/work politics as I used to because working on my blog has filled that time away. Knowing about how why someone got fired or how annoying some co-workers are not something I want to be concerned with.

I can see that you are doing so well with your blog, especially when you’re listing out your monthly expenses. Keep up with the great work!

Lol those office gossips are exactly why I am an outcast (and why people at the office don’t get along with in general).

I don’t participate in those and never had/showed any interest, so people would think I am boring.

While they go on complaining about someone or trash talking about other people, I am honestly too busy trying to read about how to manage my money and plan for the future. Not to mention, I have 0 tolerance for that stuff too. That is literally one of my pet peeves haha!

So true! I started my blog on January 1 because I thought the discipline of regular posting would help me accomplish other goals. I’ve been more productive at work because there’s no time to waste. It’s also been fun learning so much in such a short time (and so much still to learn!).

I’m an INTJ, btw. Would love to see a Myers-Briggs breakdown of PF bloggers 🙂

I’m glad to hear that you decided to start a blog! I agree with you that it helps keep you on track with your goals.

It’s also great to hear that you’ve been more productive at work. I find that there’s is SO much to learn. To be honest, I feel overwhelmed at times because there’s so many things I haven’t learned about this blogging/online/social media world. But I am taking it one step at a time (at my own turtle pace).

Based on what I’ve seen, when I visit other PF’s blogs, most of them are introverts! I guess that’s not very surprising, lol.

For what it’s worth I think you are a fantastic writer. I created my blog to challenge me and help me express my thoughts. I feel like I have so much financial information and money tips locked in my head but struggle explaining myself on paper. Hopefully, as the months go by this will become easier.

I also love how your Bitmoji just gobbles up the cash as well, hahaha.

Thanks for your encouraging words!

Like you, I created my blog to challenge myself too. I also find that I learn more about money/finance related topics as I write them down at the same time.

I face the same problem as you too. You have so much in your mind but can’t put into words, right? Or they become so scrambled and you feel like you wanna talk about everything!

I would first think of the specific subheadings that I want to focus on. Next, based on the subheadings, I would collect the thoughts and write them down regardless how stupid it sounds. See if I need to add any more points within each subheading. And then and slowly put them into betters words (at least I try to, haha).

All great points, but 4 struck me the most. Blogging does give you a sense of balance in the sense that a day job can feel “trapping” without a side passion/hustle/project. I used to work like a maniac at my day job (nights and weekends included), and it was not good for my health. With blogging, I’m compelled to switch gears ever day, and somehow that gives me that balance and a brighter outlook in general.

I think it’s an amazing feeling to build something (like a blog) from scratch.

My life had definitely changed ever since I started blogging. Not only am I more accountable voluntarily as I want to make sure that I have posts published every week, I want to challenge myself to do better.

When you start a blog, you will need to learn skills that you thought you could never do. I never thought that I could write, but a year and a half later, I am writing about the topic that I am really passionate about.

Blogging has helped me the most by helping me stay focused. Because I know I have to produce content every Friday, it tightens my schedule to make sure I complete it. This trickles down into my money because money is also about discipline! It’s about developing those small daily habits that keep you focused.

Great reasons for blogging! I find that I get more out of it than I’m giving my audience. To be able to post engaging information, I do lots of research. I feel compelled to stay on track and have to take my own advice, right?

That’s great that you feel like you’re benefiting from this. It’s also great that you feel you’re getting more out of this. But I’m sure your audience is getting the same amount, if not, more out of your information too 🙂

@Fin$avvy 🐼: Great post on blogging! My day job is very stressful, and I find blogging as a way to sometimes relax and show my creative side among other things. I am also working on a how to start a blog page…may steal some of your ideas. lol.

I’m currently out of country and have missed checking my RSS feeds for my favourite blogs 😊

This is a great post and I agree blogging gives you a tougher skin to handle the stupidity and little annoyances of the world (if that’s a word). Anyhow, I find myself to be less tolerant and emotionally insensitive to the nonsense in my corporate job. I just do my job and go home. However, my blog remains on my heart. I’ve never felt in control of anything but I love the control I have with my blog.

I love how you say you just do your job and go home. For the longest time, I wasn’t able to do that. I would go nuts because people at the office are so inconsiderate. But after starting this blog, i wouldn’t have time getting upset or irritated lol.

I know what you mean by control. I love how I have control over my blog too. You treat it like your little baby too!

I’m glad that we both took action and got rid of our limiting beliefs!

I admit that I’m still afraid of putting myself out there (that’s why I remain private with a panda icon, LOL). I feel that being personal and telling your personal stories can help readers connect with you!

Totally agree. Once I started blogging about my dividend passive income stream I became a lot more attached to my portfolio and holdings. Prior to blogging I did not follow or track my income progress at all but with constant updates on my blog I am much more tuned in to my progress and am able to measure and quantify my results much better.

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About Finsavvy Panda

Welcome to Finsavvy Panda!I love everything about saving, investing, earning, and building net worth. I’m all for flexibility and balance, so I’d love ❤ to help you do all of this without having to deprive yourself! Since Oct 2016, my boyfriend and I have been working towards freeing ourselves from corporate bullsh!t to become financially independent. If you want to hop on the happiness boat, come join us!